Stuck
by Quiffin
Summary: My entree for Magical-Marvel-Mr.Mistoffelees' "We are NOT Cliche!" contest! Bombalurina and Tugger are stuck inside his den during a storm.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own CATS.**

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Rain. Was their anything worse than rain? Bombalurina couldn't think of anything off the top of her head. It was wet and cold and it took forever to dry yourself if you got caught in it. Not only was it horrible while it was happening, but even afterward you'd have to watch your step or you would step in a puddle. Or, even worse, a mud puddle.

Not to mention, it was incredibly noisy if you just so happened to be napping inside a pipe. And it just so happened that Bombalurina found herself in this exact position.

Cursing her bad luck, she poked her head slightly out of the pipe to catch her bearings. It was late, so she couldn't see much. The dang rain didn't help, either though. Rubbish of all sorts was flying everywhere: plastic bags, flyers, crumpled newspapers. No doubt Munkustrap would make everyone clean all that up later. Just another thing to love about rain.

The winds were howling and rumbles of thunder were heard in the distance. There was no way she could stick it out in the pipe, she'd have to find decent shelter. Her den was too far away, and Demeter and Munku's were farther than that. In fact, the only den close enough, being about fifteen yards away from the pipe, was Tuggers. It just kept getting better.

She and Tugger were not on the best of terms. They had broken up a few days previous, and she had caught him recently with Cassandra. Needless to say, Bombalurina was no longer speaking to her.

With a reluctant sigh, she prepared to run out into the storm. Oh, how she loathed getting wet.

She bolted as fast as she could towards Tugger's den, covering her face with her hand to shield it from the cold rain.

She slammed her fist against the side of the doorway, trying to stand under what little coverage she could find. The curtain which covered the doorway slid open, and the Main Coon himself leaned on the door frame, one thumb tucked into his belt.

"You rang?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. She ignored him and hurried past him, into the den.

"What, not even a hello?" He scoffed, shutting the curtains. Bombalurina glared at him as she sat down on a broken hat box, and hugged herself as she shivered. She bet she looked like a mess. Her fur was mussed up and dripping, and her ears lay flat on her head in annoyance.

"You want a towel or something?" He asked. Bombalurina stayed silent and kept her eyes focused on the wall opposite herself.

Tugger rolled his eyes. "I suppose I'll take that as a yes." He said, then went over to a pile of cloth beside his nest and pulled out a nice blue beach towel with pictures of shells all over it. He threw it over to her.

"There you go."

She wrapped the towel around herself, grateful for the warmth, though she did her best not to show it. No matter how much it rained in London, she would never get used to it.

Tugger took a seat on a stained pillow in front if her. "Are you still mad at me?" He asked.

"What do you think, Brainiac?" She growled back, breaking her silence.

"Ah, so she speaks." Tugger grinned.

"Oh, shut up. I'm not in the mood, Tugger."

"Alright, fine. At least tell me why your so angry."

"Well it couldn't be the fact that I saw you making out with Cassandra behind the old stove, could it?" She hissed sarcastically.

"Oh, come on. It was a little peck and you know it. Besides, we're already broken up, so what's the difference?"

Bombalurina just gave him a death glare and turned away from him. He would never understand, and she knew it. He only cared about himself, so how could she expect him to? Besides, there was absolutely no way she was going to admit that she actually still kind of liked him. No, that would practical suicide.

They sat in silence for a little while, Bombalurina grooming her fur back to perfection, and Tugger trying to give her time to cool off. He had no idea why Queens were so emotional all the time. Every little thing seemed to set them off to one extreme or another. One second they'd be screaming in joy, the next they'd be screaming in frustration. And he could never really tell which reaction he was going to evoke until after he did what ever set them off. And the negative emotions always seemed to last longer than the positive ones.

He was startled out of his thoughts when the towel landed at his feet. He looked up at Bombalurina with a raised eyebrow. She was fully groomed and back to her beautiful self.

"Thank you." She grumbled, looking at her nails.

Tugger chuckled and threw the towel back in it's pile. "No problem, Babe."

Bombalurina frowned at the nickname but said nothing.

"How long do you think the storm is going to last?" He asked.

"Too long." She mumbled. Tugger made a face at her.

"Hey, you're the one who came to my den, not the other way around." Tugger retorted.

"Well I didn't have much of a choice. It was already raining when I woke up in my favorite pipe." Bombalurina crossed her arms over her chest.

"So your favorite pipe is the one closest to my den?" He asked with a smirk, earning a dirty look from the red Queen.

"C'mon, Babe, you know you love me." He said, winking.

"You're so self obsessed."

"And you love it." He taunted. She rolled her eyes.

"You know what, maybe I will brave the storm." She said, standing.

"Aw, C'mon Bombs. You know I'm just kidding. I know you really hate me."

"I don't hate you, Tugger." Bombalurina scoffed.

"Could've fooled me."

"Oh, you're such a-" She was cut off by a loud crashing sound outside, making both of them jump.

"What the heck was that?" She asked, her fur bristling.

"I think the wind blew down something. I'm going to check it out." Tugger said, making his way to the doorway. When he opened the curtain, he groaned. The entire doorway was covered with fallen Junk.

"The pile must have collapsed." He sighed. "Looks like neither of us are leaving any time soon."


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm bored." Bombalurina moaned from her upside down position on one of Tugger's cushions. They had been stuck in his den for about an hour, and hadn't even so much as chatted in that amount of time. The rain was too loud for them to sleep, not that they could have slept anyways.

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Tugger asked, sitting up on the old blanket he had been laying on.

Bombalurina thought for a second before getting a sly smile. She sat up, and leaned towards Tugger with a smile. "Let's play a game."

"What kind of game?" He asked.

Bombalurina shrugged. "I dunno. What do you have?"

"Well, we could play cards." He suggested. Bombalurina smirked.

"Oh, you don't want to play cards with me." She said, crossing her legs delicately.

"And why would that be?"

"Because I'll beat you and you'll whine about it." Bombalurina purred. She had gotten lots of practice playing cards when she was mates with Macavity. It was one of the few things that kept her sane towards the end of it. Even if he did cheat most of the time.

Tugger scoffed. "Oh, little miss confident, are you? What do you suppose we do instead, then?"

Bombalurina thought. She couldn't really think of anything else off the top of her head. She hadn't really played any games other than mind game since she was a teenager. That's it!

With a flirty grin she stood up, making her way over to Tugger who had his eyebrows raised in question. She delicately sat on his lap, and smiled up at him.

"I've got the perfect idea." She whispered. "But you've got to close your eyes."

Tugger happily obliged. Perhaps he was finally in her good graces again? What ever the reason, he was thoroughly enjoying having her so close. That is, until he got a face full of pillow.

Bombalurina giggled and scrambled off of him, taking her pillow with her.

Tugger stared up at her in disbelief. Well, if she wanted a pillow fight, she would get one.

He grabbed the pillow beside him and charged at her, making her squeal and run toward the opposite side of the room. He flung his pillow towards her, smacking her in the behind. She yelped and turned a playful glare in his direction.

She missed when they used to play around like this all the time as kittens. Before either of them became the heartthrobs they were now, they had been best friends. They did everything together. As they got older they just kind of grew apart. She missed him for a long while after that. She still missed him, really. But if she ever told him, she was sure he'd just reject her. After all, the Rum Tum Tugger only wants what he can't have.

Trying to shake off the sad thoughts, she launched a pillow at him, before ducking behind the bureau drawer that served as his nest. Pillow in hand, he snuck over to her hiding place, but accidentally stepped onto a crumpled newspaper, alerting her. She quickly bolted out, Tugger hot on her tracks. Throwing down the pillow, he grabbed her around the waste and started tickling her mercilessly.

Bombalurina crumpled in on herself as she burst out laughing, trying to get away. Trying to back out of his grip, she took a couple steps backwards, only to trip on a toy mouse and fall flat on her back, Tugger landing on top of her. He stopped tickling her and pinned her wrists to the ground.

"Admit it, I won." Tugger huffed.

"Never!" Bombalurina panted. But both were loosing their playful attitude. Bombalurina looked up at Tugger with big eyes. _He is so handsome with his headfur all ruffled... _

Bombalurina internally scolded herself for the thought. What was wrong with her? He had just broken up with her, and here she was melting at his touch. She was supposed to be angry with him, not swooning.

Tugger stared down at her, and felt himself softening like always. How she had that effect on him, he didn't know. None of the other Queens made him feel like this. Like he'd give anything and everything for her. It freaked him out a little, really. But she was so beautiful... His eye flicked to her lips. They were so close, all he'd have to do is lean down...

Then again, he didn't want her to get angry at him again.

He let go of her wrists and stood up, hooking his thumbs in his belt.

"You, uh, want a drink?" He asked. Bombalurina sat up, still a little shaken.

"Yeah, sure."

Tugger nodded and went over to his drink cabinet, pulled out a bottle of red wine, and poured two glasses. He handed one to her, and she accepted it gratefully.

"You know I don't think I've laughed that much for a long while." Bombalurina sighed and looked at one of the many candles that lit up the den. Being in the Junkyard, there wasn't much electricity, and so most cats used candles to light up their dens, which wasn't a problem considering their good night vision. The only reason they could light up the Junkyard for the Ball so well was because Misto harnessed some of his electricity beforehand for it.

"Yeah." Tugger agreed, watching her. The way the candlelight made shadows on her fur... She looked so gorgeous. As always. Why had he broken up with her again? He couldn't remember. But he was definitely regretting it. How could he have let such an amazing Queen go?

She must have felt his gaze, because she turned to look at him. He instantly pretended to be extremely fascinated with the ceiling.

"You wanna play truth or dare?" She asked suddenly. Tugger raised an eyebrow at her.

"Seriously?"

"Oh come on. We just had a _pillow fight_ and you're looking down on Truth or Dare?"

Tugger thought for a moment. Well, it wasn't as if anyone was going to know about it. He shrugged. "Fine."

"Alright. Truth or dare?" Bombalurina asked, leaning back on her hands.

"Truth."

"Why did you break up with me?" She asked. Tugger blinked. Clearly this question with pre-meditated.

He took a breath and crossed his arms over his chest. He'd never had to give a reason before. And to be honest, he didn't really have a good reason. Hadn't he been wondering the exact same question just moments ago?

"I don't know." He said. Bombalurina opened her mouth to challenge the answer, but nodded instead.

"Alright, your turn."

"Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Why did you let me?"

"Let you what?"

"Let me break up with you."

Bombalurina was taken aback by the question. "Because it takes two willing participants for a relationship."

"How would you know whether I'm willing or not?"

"Clearly if you're breaking up with me you aren't willing." Bombalurina said, giving him an odd look. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to tell me what you're thinking right now."

"I was just thinking I was an absolute Pollicle-brain for letting you go." He said. Bombalurina chuckled.

"Yes, you were."

"At least we agree on something." Tugger grinned, joining her on the floor.

"For once." Bombalurina purred. She tried to ignore how his arm brushed against hers as he sat back, and the electricity it seemed to shoot through her. Or how his scent was making her almost dizzy. Or the fact that she wanted to do nothin but run her claws through his mane.

"Truth or dare?" Tugger asked.

"Dare." She replied softly.

Tugger felt like he was being paralyzed by her gaze. She was so captivating. He was nearly driven wild by her proximity. He was such a fool to let her go. But maybe it wasn't to late.

"Kiss me." He whispered, putting a soft paw on her face.

And she did.


End file.
